Date: November 21, 2400
United Nations of Earth Sphere
New Mexico City, Pueblo de Zapata
Plaza Mirador
As De La Paz and his former guard continued their exchange, Untehki noted two crucial details. Firstly, the crowd of villagers that had filled the plaza was ducking into nearby buildings, anticipating an inevitable firefight. Secondly, De La Paz's turncoat soldiers were tightening their formation. They formed a half-circle in front of De La Paz, forcing their backs towards the scenic overlook of New Mexico City in the distance. Even if the two could run, there was nowhere to escape to. The labyrinthian alleyways of the village were behind a wall of teched-out half-borg muscle. The only potential shield was Sr. Alvarez's mobile stalls to their right.
The best Untehki hoped for now was to take a few soldiers with him, courtesy of the throwing knives concealed in his sleeves. An equally concealed exo-skeleton for added power would be the cherry on top.
As he calculated which guards he could target with certainty, he noticed a figure on the rooftops looking down on the unfolding chaos. In the dark, without night vision optical implants, he could only discern a silhouette. The figure crouched down, produced an o-shaped object, and silently launched it. Before anyone could react, two guards' heads were cleanly decapitated. The mysterious stranger continued, making precise cuts into the guards, drawing attention to the ongoing situation.
The lead guard, Rodrigo, momentarily took his eyes off De La Paz and paid the price. De La Paz's right hand morphed in the blink of an eye, wedging into Rodrigo's chin and removing part of the man's skull. De La Paz evidently possessed a modified cyberhand, specifically a Gesicht hand pistol.
As Asp and De La Paz leapt from their table and dashed to the stall, the rooftop assassin advanced rapidly towards the guards firing on their position. The other half turned their sights on the two corpos, but Sr. Alvarez's stall withstood the hail of gunfire. Asp allowed a throwing knife to slide into his right hand and hurled it at the closest enemy. The knife stuck to the man's head, seemingly unaffected until an arc of electricity surged from it, frying both organs and cybernetic systems.
Eventually, the bullets ceased hitting the stall, indicating that Asp and De La Paz were no longer the immediate concern. Bloodcurdling screams confirmed the aftermath. Six guards lay dead, suffering various forms of dismemberment. The rooftop assassin, now more visible, glided across the plaza, wearing standard black fatigues with a rounded helmet encasing their head. Their completely artificial arms and legs matched the color of their uniform. The showstopper, however, was their weapons.
Asp had only seen specs of what they wielded, but now witnessed the assassin using two swords based on the Indian urumi, flexible, whip-like blades. As they glided and spun from guard to guard, the assassin’s blades twisted in the air like snakes. Heads, arms, parts of rifles, and anything remotely cuttable found itself quickly scattered across the ground. There was shocking little blood, but the bright orange of the blades hinted at their superheating functionality, cauterizing wounds and melting metal with each strike. Within a minute, the plaza was cleared, and the assassin coiled the whip-blades around their waist like plastic snap bracelets.
A feminine voice with an accent suggesting origins from the Indian subcontinent called out, "Mr. De La Paz and Mr. Asp, are you still alive?" The two men nodded as they emerged from the stall.
"Good," the assassin nodded as her helmet depolarized to reveal the face of a young woman. "I had hoped I hadn't missed out on a double pay-day."
De La Paz spat on the ground. "Bah, cutting things close, Asura. And what’s this about double-pay? Did you loosen a screw or two with all that spinning and flailing about?"
Asura chuckled. "I'm not asking for double-pay, you horse’s ass. I was hired to protect both of you corpos."
De La Paz retorted, "I only paid you to be my backup. Of which I am immensely grateful, but Asp was not on your list."
Asp rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks Fran."
Asura shook her head. "Second contract, opened shortly after I began making preparations to make my way out to the pueblo. Some frantic femme begged me to go after Asp to ensure his protection."
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
De La Paz turned to Asp with a demanding look. "A frantic femme, eh?"
Asp sighed. "Sorry, Fran, nothing as exciting as you think. Asura, right? Might as well put her on since I’m sure she wanted to come."
For a moment, Asura seemed confused by the request, but she produced the earpiece Asp had left behind in his hotel. A brilliant blue light emanated from the device, surprising both De La Paz and Asura. Shortly thereafter, a holographic model of a woman clad in traditional Chinese cheongsam dress materialized.
Asp’s personal AI, Ling Mi, turned to face him. She said in a voice as sweet as buttercream, “Oh, Mr. Asp, I’m so glad to see you are okay. You had me worried sick.”
Asp took the earpiece-holoprojector from Asura and looked at the AI square in the face. “Mi, let’s cut the crap, how do you really feel?”
Ling Mi was quiet for a moment before her previously relieved face turned into one morphed by anger. “You are a real piece of shit, you know that? What in the everloving fuck were you thinking strolling about without me?”
Raising his free hand up in an expression of forgiveness, Asp sputtered, “It…was just a precaution, Mi. Didn’t know if you might be compromised.”
Asura cut in on the two. “Sorry, but that’s the person who hired me? I didn’t know she was an AI.”
“Is that a problem?” asked the AI.
“So long as the payment clears, I don’t care who sends it. Just never seen an AI so lively before.”
Asp answered, “Ling Mi’s an Adaptive AI, made from the brain of a deceased human donor. She’s got the best of a computer’s processing power and the creative ability to learn and adapt like us.” He turned his head to face the AI, whose arms were now crossed at him. “And a wicked personality, at least when not facing the public.”
By this point, the villagers were beginning to leave their shelters, some now clutching firearms and melee weapons. Acknowledging the perilous situation, Asura, De La Paz, and Asp agreed to vacate the area before more turncoats arrived and made the situation explode once again. They ducked into the pueblo’s winding alleyways until they reached an inconspicuous adobe house amid rows of other houses. De La Paz explained this was a safe house he built just for occasions such as this.
“I am going to remain here for a day or two and see who still bears loyalty to me,” De La Paz said, “After that, there will be vengeance.”
“Asp reminded his associate,” The guards back at the plaza all seemed upset about our continued collaboration.”
“Si, they were. But the fact the attack failed is going to reflect poorly on whoever decided to go with the hit. Whatever momentum they may have had will fade away like piss on a hot summer street.”
“I suppose this is where we part for now?”
“Not quite, Untehki. I believe in your project, I do. But this whole situation tells me there need to be changes. I do not begrudge those men for trying to take me down; in a way, I have been neglecting the community.”
“You canceling LIGHTSWITCH?”
De La Paz rubbed the back of his head. “I’ve been in talks with another corp.”
“No,” Asp pointed at the other man with bubbling fury, “You better not have sold out to some other corp behind my back.”
“Listen, you stubborn bastard! I only talked with them because THEY expressed interest in working with you. Luminated Ventures is the name, operated by one Adam Hummin. You heard of ‘em?”
Asp had heard of both the corp and the owner. Luminated Ventures was an enigma in the corporate world both on Earth and across Sol. They were a corp with seemingly endless capital, involved in numerous projects and developments. Nobody quite knew what their endgame was, as across their approximately 70 years of operation, they’d yet to put out anything concrete.
“What have you told them?” Asp asked, his tone beginning to cool down.
De La Paz put a friendly grip on Asp’s shoulder. “Haven’t given them a damn thing, amigo. Hummin gave me a buzz asking about LIGHTSWITCH and its implications for space travel. I swear to you, I have no idea how he got ahold of even that much.”
“Think Luminated Ventures is behind the Canaveral job?”
“Who can say? But maybe this could produce a lead for you. If you want, I could set up an appointment and you can go in my stead. Hummin assured me he could be anywhere at any time to discuss business. He was very insistent on that point.”
He thought it over for a minute, but Asp ultimately agreed to the idea. The two men quickly worked out the details before De La Paz disappeared into his safehouse behind the sound of several locking mechanisms. Turning from the door, Asp was surprised to see Asura still standing around.
“Oh, you probably expect your payment right now, don’t you?” Asp sheepishly grinned.
The assassin shrugged. “Wouldn’t hurt.”
“Any currency preference?”
“Been eyeing some jobs out in Asia, so Yen or Yuan would probably be best.”
He was about to tell Ling Mi to digitally transfer the funds to her account when an idea popped into his head.
“Would you be opposed to a contract extension?”
Asura raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Ling Mi’s projected form returned a similar look to Asp as he answered, “I think having some hired muscle would probably be wise. Something tells me there is plenty of danger ahead and you’ve proved very capable. Whatever your rates are, I can pay it.”
Now it was the assassin’s turn to ponder. She paced around for a few minutes before settling on her answer. “Let’s do it; there will always be trouble in Asia. Kinda want to see how this plays out anyway.”
The two shook hands while Ling Mi created a new contract between the parties. Once all had dotted their i's and crossed their t's, Asp and Asura made their way to her AV stashed away amidst a nearby landfill.
“Well, where to next?” Asura asked as he booted up the machine’s navigation system.
“Plot a course for the NMC Terminal; we’re catching the next flight to Mogadishu.”
“Somalia? We’re headed to the New African Union?”
“Got another contact doing some work down in Uganda, but Francisco is setting up a meeting with Adam Hummin at the Afro-Sino War Museum in Mogadishu. Going to see what that’s all about first, then it’s an easy maglev ride down south.”
“You’re the boss.”